Maryland
Montgomery County summit responds to transgender health care challenges
Council Vice President Kate Stewart’s son is trans
Maryland earns high marks overall from the Movement Advancement Project for its LGBTQ policy protections, including becoming a “shield” state for transgender health care, but a Montgomery County survey that found trans youth face difficulties in accessing care prompted Council Vice President Kate Stewart and a county health nonprofit to convene a virtual roundtable on Saturday.
“My son transitioned when he was in high school and our local pharmacy regularly did not have the correct size syringes,” Stewart told the Washington Blade during a telephone interview. “I had to take off from work and drive from Takoma Park to Chase Brexton in Howard County. That’s not a quick drive, and not accessible by public transportation.”
She said Trans Maryland’s work helped make syringes more available now, but more needs to be done to increase access to equitable care at the local level.
Maryland is one of 15 states, along with D.C., to which the Movement Advancement Project gave a high overall score for its LGBTQ policies. In terms of trans health care equity, 22 states have banned medically advised care for transitioning youth as of 2023, with Missouri banning similar care for adults. In response, D.C. and 14 states, including Maryland, enacted “shield” laws to protect equal access to health care.
Maryland’s Trans Health Equity Act, effective Jan. 1, requires Medicaid to cover trans-affirming care. However, a Montgomery County survey found 41 percent of those needing such care reported difficulty finding it in the county.
While the report listed three clinics — Planned Parenthood, Mary’s Center and CCI Health Services — trans residents were unaware of their services or where to look for them locally. More familiar were services provided by Chase Brexton Health and Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, and D.C.’s Whitman-Walker Health, mostly due to their long histories of work and advocacy across the region. But for the gender-diverse leaders on the panel, equity meant having local access to health care.
“Those without transportation or wealth aren’t able to receive transition health care in their community,” said Rev. Ali K. C. Bell, a minister for Congregational Life at Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church.
Bell said he was privileged to be able to travel to Baltimore for the health care he needed but was disappointed by the economic disparity.
CCI Health Services, a community health center with a decades-long history in the area, joined with Stewart in hosting the roundtable to address the issues raised by the report.
CCI Chief Medical Officer Dr. Will Giodano-Perez announced a new clinic specializing in sexual and minority health, but acknowledged more could be done to address legacy discrimination and abuse.
“Our mission is to promote excellent health care for everyone,” Giodano-Perez said. “We have to be aware of what kinds of conversations we are not having with our patients and to focus on [addressing] our own biases.”
Trans Maryland Executive Director Lee Blinder spoke of their experiences often educating health care professionals while being treated.
“One day I’m going to invoice that doctor about ‘training’ them on how to treat me and others like me,” said Blinder, who grew up in Montgomery County. “I’d like to have a provider that I don’t have to train. When you’re sitting there in that paper gown, you’re vulnerable.”
Bell also emphasized everyone in the provider’s office needs to be trained in order for the health care experience to be considered affirming. Looking to the future, Amena Johnson, the LGBTQ liaison for the Montgomery County Office of Community Partnerships, stated that health disparities faced by LGBTQ seniors should be addressed as well.
“We are not all children or young people. I hope to be an old trans person one day, and it doesn’t look like a great landscape, frankly,” Blinder said before relaying an experience about visiting their grandmothers in retirement facilities and the care teams not being ready to interact with them as a trans grandchild, much less as a future trans resident.
Giodano-Perez acknowledged the pain caused by these difficult health care experiences, but admitted one health organization cannot handle these issues alone and it would take involvement and support from the community.
“We are limited with how much time we have,” he explained, noting the frustration of not being able to address all of the social determinants of health, but also not wanting to see “another of our patients pass from suicide.”
He stated one place to start was to make care respectful and effective for everyone.
“Sounds basic,” he said, “but we’re going to tackle these things.”
Stewart told the Blade her challenges seeking care for her son showed her health equity was about having access to resources where you lived.
“On a map it may look like, well, we have Chase Brexton over here and Whitman-Walker in D.C.,” she said, “but connecting with people’s everyday experiences … shows how much work we still have to do.”
Cameroon
Gay Cameroonian immigrant will be freed from ICE detention — for now
Ludovic Mbock’s homeland criminalizes homosexuality
By ANTONIO PLANAS | An immigration judge on Friday issued a $4,000 bond for a Cameroonian immigrant and regional gaming champion held in federal immigration detention for the past three weeks.
The ruling will allow Ludovic Mbock, of Oxon Hill, to return to Maryland from a Georgia facility this weekend, his family and attorney said.
“Realistically, by tomorrow. Hopefully, by today,” said Mbock’s attorney, Edward Neufville. “We are one step closer to getting Ludovic justice.”
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
Maryland
Md. Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus outlines 2026 priorities
Expanded PrEP access among objectives
Maryland’s Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus outlined legislative priorities for the remainder of the General Assembly’s 2026 term during a press conference on March 5.
State Del. Kris Fair (D-Fredrick County) led the press conference. State Del. Ashanti Martinez (D-Prince George’s County) and other caucus members also spoke.
Caucus members are sponsoring 12 bills and supporting four others.
Martinez is sponsoring House Bill 1114, which would expand PrEP access in Maryland.
“PrEP is 99 percent effective in preventing HIV transmission,” he explained, noting PrEP’s cost often turns away potential users.
The bill aims to extend insurance coverage and expand pharmacists’ ability to prescribe PrEP along with other HIV treatments and testing. Martinez is working with state Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Anne Arundel and Howard Counties) and FreeState Justice on the bill.
The House Health Committee had a hearing last week that included HB1114.
“Ending the HIV epidemic is about expanding access and providing these life-saving tools to all persons in Maryland,” Martinez said.
Several other pieces of legislation were highlighted during the press conferences. They included measures focused on youth and education, birth certificate markers, so-called conversion therapy, and hormone medications.
State Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D-Montgomery County) is cosponsoring Senate Bill 950, which would update and strengthen conversion therapy laws. State Del. Bonnie Cullison (D-Montgomery County) has introduced an identical bill that would extend the statute of limitations on individuals who facilitate conversion therapy.
Kagan explained the bill would allow conversion therapy victims to come to terms with their experience undergoing the widely discredited practice that “creates shame and it silences survivors.”
When questioned, Fair explained the press conference happened late into the legislative session because “we [the caucus] are constantly having to respond in real time to what’s happening in Washington” while drafting and considering pieces of legislation.
The Frederick County Democrat described this session’s bills as the “most ambitious list of priorities to date.” Fair also described the caucus’s goals.
“It’s decency, it’s dignity, and its humanity,” he said.
Maryland
Md. Commission on LGBTQIA+ Affairs released updated student recommendations
LGBTQ students report higher rates of bullying, suicide
The Maryland Commission on LGBTQIA+ Affairs has released updated recommendations on how the state’s schools can support LGBTQ students.
The updated 16-page document outlines eight “actionable recommendations” for Maryland schools, supplemented with data and links to additional resources. The recommendations are:
- Developing and passing a uniform statewide and comprehensive policy aimed at protecting “transgender, nonbinary, and gender expansive students” against discrimination. The recommendation lists minimum requirements for the policy to address: name, pronoun usage, and restroom access.
- Requiring all educators to receive training about the specific needs of LGBTQ students, by trained facilitators. The training’s “core competencies” include instruction on terminology, data, and support for students.
- Implementing LGBTQ-inclusive curricula and preventing book bans. The report highlights a “comprehensive sexual education curriculum” as specifically important in the overall education curriculum. It also states the curriculum will “provide all students with life-saving information about how to protect themselves and others in sexual and romantic situations.”
- Establishing Gender Sexuality Alliances “at all schools and in all grade levels.” This recommendation includes measures on how to adequately establish effective GSAs, such as campaign advertising, and official state resources that outline how to establish and maintain a GSA.
- Providing resources to students’ family members and supporters. This recommendation proposes partnering with local education agencies to provide “culturally responsive, LGBTQIA+ affirming family engagement initiatives.”
- Collecting statewide data on LGBTQ youth. The data on Maryland’s LGBTQ youth population is sparse and non-exhaustive, and this recommendation seeks to collect information to inform policy and programming across the state for LGBTQ youth.
- Hiring a full-time team at the Maryland Department of Education that focuses on LGBTQ student achievement. These employees would have specific duties that include “advising on local and state, and federal policy” as well as developing the LGBTQ curriculum, and organizing the data and family resources.
- Promoting and ensuring awareness of the 2024 guidelines to support LGBTQ students.
The commission has 21 members, with elections every year, and open volunteer positions. It was created in 2021 and amended in 2023 to add more members.
The Governor’s Office of Communication says the commission’s goal is “to serve LGBTQIA+ Marylanders by galvanizing community voices, researching and addressing challenges, and advocating for policies to advance equity and inclusion.”
The commission is tasked with coming up with yearly recommendations. This year’s aim “to ensure that every child can learn in a safe, inclusive, and supportive environment.”
The Human Rights Campaign’s most recent report on LGBTQ youth revealed that 46.1 percent of LGBTQ youth felt unsafe in some school settings. Those numbers are higher for transgender students, with 54.9 percent of them saying they feel unsafe in school.
Maryland’s High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey reveals a disparity in mental health issues and concerns among students who identify as LGBTQ, compared to those who are heterosexual. LGBTQ students report higher rates of bullying, feelings of hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts. Nearly 36 percent of LGBTQ students report they have a suicide plan, and 26.7 percent of respondents say they have attempted to die by suicide.
The commission’s recommendations seek to combat the mental health crisis among the state’s LGBTQ students. They are also a call for local and state governments to work towards implementing them.
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